Various Beams of Luminescence
by bearden2000
Summary: Various alternate point of view one-shots for Silver Queen's "Dreaming of Sunshine" Rating is simply because I don't know what I will write in the future and I don't want to limit myself.
1. Chunin Tenten

As we set up camp for the night, I thank Kami that the combination of an overexcited Kiba and the pace of a Tsunade that won't wait up for "chakra cripples" has tired Lee out. Well, relatively speaking anyway. There were times during our early missions when I had to stop Neji from closing Lee's tenketsu points just so he would _stop moving_ and go to sleep. But as much as everyone is excited about our promotions, Shikako's kidnapping and our lack of real response to it means everyone is still tense and injecting a dose of Lee into that is just a terrible idea.

Not that anyone thinks hell wasn't raised but Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei laid it out plainly enough. Quite frankly, even if Shikako was taken, how would our response differ? Konoha would certainly want go to war over it, if nothing else than because A they can't afford not to respond to having a ninja taken by a minor village and B she is the Jonin Commander and Nara Clan head's daughter. But Hidden Stone wouldn't take kindly to that and the situation with Cloud is tense enough that a two front war is at least a possiblity. A two front war that would likely be fought alone. As strong as Gaara is, Sand can't go into war without a Kazekage. And Mist is just getting out of a civil war of it's own, making it unlikely it enters the fight at all.

Yeah, injecting a hyperactive poster boy for "Beat up your enemies! Who cares how strong they are; you work hard and are passionate!", into a group of ninja frustrated with how little they can do to protect their own is not a wise move.

Not that they don't have plenty to be proud of. There is a reason the Raikage wanted everyone gone, after all. Kiba and Choji's fight was about as great as you could get without them killing each other or destroying the stands, and Ino did much better against Lee than I thought she would. Sauske showed off everything his eyes allowed him to do, Hinata was a freaking star, and Lee and Neji put on a great fight like always. And Shikako, freaking Shikako. I was waiting for her to pull something like her fight with Gaara off. Not to that level, maybe, but her time was coming. I think people unconsciously underestimate her due to her clan. They'll assume she's smart of course, but there isn't really much record of Nara's doing jutsu outside of their shadow s, and Nara is as synonymous with "lazy" as it is with "smart". But when Shikako saw there wasn't a sealing textbook, she _wrote her own_. And got one of the Sannin to proofread it. Shikako pulling off ridiculous stunts with seals has just been a question of when, not if, if you ask me.

The thing is though, I don't think that I get that promotion without the Raikage's whinging. I mean, sure there were a couple of genin from the smaller villages that got promoted after a first round exit, but they have the full, undivided power of a village behind them and its not like the big 5 probably cared too much to mount a strenuous objection. At least, not after stress and paranoia got ratcheted up to extreme after those supposedly former Grass shinobi tried to take Shikako.

Yet, what did I show? I was able to avoid that Sugizai's homing lightning jutsu in the first round but didn't do anything exemplary. Compared to Shikako and her City of Pillars that seemed to be as full of explosions as of rock, I was worse than pedestrian. And my fight with Haku was one big lesson on why I shouldn't have been promoted. Not because I lost, but because I could, should have won.

Haku is fast, don't get me wrong, but if there is one thing Lee is good at, it's being an impossible-to-hit moving target. A sideswipe of the trachea, a kunai piercing the chest, the fight could have been over relatively quickly. For all that Haku showed himself to be a powerhouse in the final rounds when he had water to work with, I was essentially his worst matchup outside of Gaara if he didn't have water. His speed and almost 360 awareness due to his ice mirror teleport couldn't compare to Lee and the Byakugan, and that storage seal Shikako pushed me to make meant I could match him, kunai for senbon until he eventually ran out of chakra making them.

But I lost. Because I didn't try to kill him. I herded, corralled, and harassed him, but without a heavy hitting move to finish the job, it was ultimately pointless. Which brings up the obvious question: why? There's a Chunin nominally there to stop competitors from dying, and Tsunade, if no one else, would be able to keep him alive. Why would I refuse to try to kill in an instance where it's perfectly safe and advantageous for me to do so?

Part of it is that killing…it's not…nice. That isn't the right word, but I can't really say there aren't situations where killing a specific person would be moral, or good. Not as a kunoichi, anyway. But, outside of complete psychopaths, I think every ninja has this aversion to murder. They use justifications to get around it: '"The Hokage ordered it to be done" "It's for the safety of the village." "They were going to kill me if I didn't kill them first."' But I don't know anyone who enjoys that aspect of the job. I'm sure I wouldn't last long preaching an anti-killing message outside of the Hokage Tower, but Konoha being the "nice" village isn't all PR. But that's beside the point. If I'm honest with myself, it's not about having some sort of vague moral high ground. It's about control.

Killing is violent. Not just in the very obvious sense, but in its very nature. The subjugation of another, to the point that you decide whether or not they die, to hold in your hands their very existence; I can't think of anything more severe, more extreme, more _violent_ than that. And that's why I won't kill. In looking to control others to such an nth degree, you necessarily lose control of yourself. Everything not useful to ending another person's life is shut down, stuffed to the side, so it doesn't get in the way. When I try to kill someone. I am not Tenten; I am that ninja's potential killer. It's a process so traumatic that the two major problems ninja have, outside of staying alive, are reconciling yourself with the thing you become when you kill, and keeping from sliding down too far and losing yourself completely. I...I can't and won't let myself go like that.

That's quite a weakness for someone who supposed to be a trained killer. I suppose I've had a need for control since I was a kid. Since there was an orphanage matron, with a heart in the right place, but surrounded by too many kids to handle herself, and too many adults more willing to pay for safeguarding the village's walls rather than for its future. Since there were parents, stricken by evidently enough grief to persecute an innocent boy, but not enough to adopt one of many the other children left behind. Since there was an academy, providing structure, a safe haven, and goals and heroes to strive for.

That's why I got into fortune-telling in the first place, primarily in outrage that some leaves or a deck of cards could overpower what _I_ was going to do with _my_ life. Then, as a desperate hope I could use it to take advantage of the future. Eventually, that led me to investigating and mysteries, a chance to vicariously live a life where I would have control over what happens through brainpower and determination. A life where there was an answer and you had the pieces to figure it out.

The fact that my teammates act as huge warning signs on this front hardly helps matters. It's completely understandable that Lee sees Gai-sensei as a father figure. Heck, I'll eat my scrolls if they aren't related _somehow_. But as much as he might enjoy it, his life is not his own. Outside of a crush on Sakura, asking Lee what he wants won't get you anything other than another spiel of his dream to be a splendid taijutsu specialist or a yelled declaration that you and him must spar or train, _because Gai-sensei hasn't told him to want anything else_.

As a fellow orphan, I can see having how a surrogate father one can dump all responsibilities onto might be attractive. But, it's to the point that Lee is a one-note character that is somehow in real life. Granted, we were able to take advantage of this in the second round, but for all that this profession is supposed age people quickly, Lee seems to have regressed. For all that people may view my outrage at Gai-sensei's and Lee's antics as a comedy act, a part of this is genuinely unhealthy. It's much easier to laugh at Lee running around like an overexcited puppy when you don't have to think about the fact that that he is simultaneously a kid who has had almost no one to depend upon and an full-fledged adult responsible for himself in the eyes of the village.

But for all that Lee lets himself go so he doesn't have to worry about control, Neji regimented himself so much that his desire for control ended up controlling him. Again, he's fully justified in forming his emotional shields, however unnecessarily harsh he was because of them. But locking himself behind a bland face and cold eyes ended up leaving him almost as lonely as his lack of parents. The fact that he didn't actually interact with anyone has only compounded the problem as he has gotten older. I mean, sure Lee's failures meant almost no one interacted with him in the academy on a significant level, but no one _wanted_ to interact with Neji. That he legitimately believed he couldn't have control only multiplied his frustrations until he nearly killed his adoring cousin for daring to exist and not being able to kill a jonin at the age of three.

The bright side, I suppose, is that Neji has been getting better since the Sauske Retrieval mission. I mean, Naruto defeating him helped kick him of his fate spiel to some degree, but I think it would have been more effective if it was less clean. Naruto knew Neji's biases going in, and outsmarted him because of that. Neji thought, on some level, that it was an error of judgement on his part rather than a declaration against fate. But after the retrieval mission, after Naruto, and perhaps more importantly Hinata, showing how strong they were, and Naruto throwing it in his face that other people have suffered too and haven't given up, he's grown by leaps and bound emotionally.

But yeah, I'll admit that my desire for control is controlling me enough that I don't want to kill. So, I'll just a have to be such a kickass kunoichi that that doesn't matter. It's not like Tsunade-hime kills after all Herding opponents with thrown weapons works great with Neji and Lee, but I need to strengthen my solo skills. Outside of finding the Bashosen in a pile of rubble in the middle of a battlefield, there is a certain level of opponent past which I can't win one on one with my current skills. I'll improve with my melee weapons, but I need something that packs more punch, or at least hits in a better area. Maybe if I can get to that kunoichi study group, I can find an anatomy textbook that lists non-vital weak points and train more with senbon...


	2. Fanned Flames

Author's Notes: I am currently working on Suguzai's point of view of the Chunin Exams, which will end up being significantly bigger than either of previous two chapters, but after reading the latest chapter, I got this idea and wanted to get it all down before I lost it all. The following is intended to be added to the end of chapter 106 of Dreaming of Sunshine

* * *

As Shikamaru tried to catch his breath, Tenten turned to face both of us.

"I have also been instructed to invite both of you to, and I quote 'A Most Youthful Evening, in celebration of Burning Passions'"

Shikamaru responded with a flat "What?"

Tenten shrugged. "Gai-sensei wants the team plus both of you to go out to dinner at Shifudo to celebrate our seal getting approved."

I wondered why Gai would take an interest in an area he doesn't really have expertise in until I realized. Might Gai is just as intimidating on the border as Sharingan Kakashi, and Neji will probably be in high demand from the Sensory Squad with his eyes, so this might be the last time they can go out together in a while. Adding in us was just icing on the cake.

"That's sound's great. We'll see you there." I replied before Shikamaru could say anything. Not that he would refuse. If nothing else, it isn't particularly often he gets mackerel or kelp, but I can see his eyes twitching at the thought of being in the company of such champions of _hard work_ for an entire night.

I just hoped they picked a place that was structurally sound enough to withstand their enthusiasm.

* * *

As it turned out, from the looks of it, Shifudo probably had patrons as destructive as Gai and Lee since it first opened. It seemed every table was reinforced and the few things on the wall were dull and also attached tightly. About the only thing they could have done to make their restaurant more ninja proof would be to find some way to serve their cuisine without utensils. As it was, we were still heralded to a back corner, probably so others didn't have to listen to youthful declarations as much as anything else.

The night passed fairly quickly, in between Lee and Gai attempting to challenge us and other patrons to one-handed push up competitions, and discussing the hammerspace seal with Tenten. But before we got the check, Gai ordered six small glasses of sake and passed them around.

"I propose a toast, to Tenten, Shikako and Shikamaru for their youthful efforts! For it brings great joy to see that even those in the clan most mired in the cold shadows burn brightly when helping their family and comrades!"

"Yes!" parroted Lee. "To the beacons of youth, shining in the darkness!"

As we each tipped back our cups, something niggled at the back of my mind. And as Lee's cheeks were pinker than Sakura's hair before he finished his swallow, I remembered. I remembered that for all Lee is a force of nature, he is most dangerous when he's drunk. And since he didn't actually fight to retrieve Sauske, and thus didn't get drunk, there is no way for anyone to know that.

Oh crud.

Before I could latch onto his shadow, he was on the ceiling, crawling around like a maniac Kidomaru. While Gai would have been able to subdue him in an open battlefield, here he was restricted to damage control and Tenten with her dangerous weapons was in much the same spot in a crowded restaurant filled with civilians.

That left it to Neji, Shikamaru, and I to corral Lee. And while Shikamaru and I could coordinate very well, it still would be unwise for both of use to capture him at the same time, which limited our effectiveness. The jyuken is perfect for this situation, but the cartoon-like flexibility a tipsy Lee gained, along with his ridiculous speed, made him impossible for Neji to hit. The fact that he shouted invective at us didn't help.

"You wanna' fight, you guys? Alright, but I'm gonnuh win! Not even the byaku-sharingan will-!"

That's odd. Neji, a user of the Gentle Fist, punched Lee in the face, seemingly on reflex. Unluckily for him, Lee was yawning, and bit down before he could remove his hand. And I've seen Akamaru be more willing to give up a bone than Lee was willing to give up that hand.

"Lee! Stop this foolishness at once and GIVE ME BACK MY HAND!"

"Mmhm!"

Shika's shadow sewing was getting dangerously close to causing collateral damage while chasing Lee, and Neji's misaimed jyuken blasts were doing a fair number on the walls. I quickly caught Neji in my shadow before travelling down his arm to capture Lee, putting an end to the show.

For how short the fight was, the damage caused was quite impressive. Not a table in the back half of the restaurant still stood and there were quite a few gouges in the walls. Shikamaru started rubbing circles into his forehead as Gai-sensei ran off to apologize for his "overenthusiastic, youthful student" and to settle any damages. Tenten was failing to stifle her laughter at Neji, whose hand was _still_ in Lee's mouth. He could glare at me all he wanted, but shadow possession didn't control mouths.

Eventually, he wrenched himself free and I forced Lee to walk outside. When I saw a small pond outside the front, I immediately forced him to run in. Not that he was a threat to break out of the jutsu, but he was energetic enough that it was a hassle keeping him under control. The blast of cold water sobered him up enough that he fell asleep.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at me as if to say "Did he deserve that?", but I just stared back unimpressed. If Shika were holding him, he may well have just bent back and forth at the waist until Lee knocked himself out, so he wouldn't have to walk him outside.

Tenten just shook her head as she saw a drenched, snoozing Lee. "I'll take this knucklehead home." she called out. "Thanks for coming. I had a great time, all this notwithstanding."

"Yeah I did too." I replied. "We should do it again sometime, without the sake."

I heard Tenten's laugh fade in the distance as she carried Lee across Konoha's rooftops.

* * *

As I was feeding the deer the next morning, I saw a worried Tenten chasing an inconsolable Lee heading my direction. Luckily, we were far enough away that Lee probably wouldn't wake anyone up. But before I could get out as much as a hello, Lee wept "Shikako! I must profusely apologize for my horrible, unyouthful display last night. I turned a night dedicated to celebrating your beautiful flames into a scene of wanton destruction."

I held up a hand, hoping he would take it as a sign to stop. "It's alright, Lee. It's not your fault that you are an extreme light weight."

"No, Shikako!" he countered. "It's not ok. My flames burned out of control yesterday and all of your best efforts could not stop me from ruining that innocent man's restaurant. And if I train harder, I shall only become more dangerous if I were to lose control again. In order to protect my friends and other innocents, I must….I must do the honorable thing and retire from being a ninja!"

It was clear at this point that I wasn't going to be able to break him out of his hysteria or convince him not to quit, so I had to break out the big guns. I mouthed "I'm sorry" to Tenten, and henged into Gai-sensei

"Lee! Why do your flames burn so low?! Is today not-"

"GAI-SENSEI! I have shamed not only the flames of youth but more importantly you!" Lee cried as copious amounts of tears formed. "I can do the only thing I can to repent and quit-"

"Lee, what is the matter? Today is not a time for tears; it is a day to rejoice!" I replied.

"But I destroyed that innocent man's place of business!"

"And did you not learn a valuable lesson, Lee?"

"T-t-to stay away from sake, Gai-sensei?"

"Ha, ha, ha! Yes, it seems it would be wise for you refrain from imbibing alcohol. But you learned a much more important lesson, one that perhaps is overdue." I lectured. "You see, as wonderful as the flames of your youth are, they can also be dangerous."

"Like the Eight Gates, Gai-sensei?" Lee asked.

I answered, "Even more so my youthful pupil. For though when we open the gates, we risk injury to ourselves, when we let our flames burn out of control, we risk hurting those closest to us. A lesson that you are truly lucky to learn here rather than on the battlefield."

Tenten interjected, "And you learned that when you do get out of control, we'll be here to help you, you big goof."

Lee's eyes started watering again. "I see now, Gai-sensei. Though the night was dark, my friends will guide me through and the struggles will only make me stronger. I simply need to work hard to keep control. To become stronger than I was yesterday!"

"Stronger than I was yesterday!" Tenten yelled.

I followed, "Yes, Lee! Go and let your flames burn hotter, burn brighter and most of all, burn wiser!" and gave him The Smile.

"Oh, Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

Then, he hugged me.

And I found out everyone was wrong. That beachside sunset wasn't a genjutsu. It wasn't the universe letting Gai-sensei and Lee do whatever they wanted as it refused to watch them hug. It was what they _couldn't hold back_. For though when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you, when you gaze into the Youth, the Youth _becomes_ you. Encompassed in its writhing flames, suffused with the incandescent glow of a budding flower in a spring day's morning dew. The primordial explosion of life itself embodied in its spirit. Pushing ever harder, ever faster, proliferating through all things as all it touches becomes renewedfulfilled _blossominginenergy_ *SLAP*

My cheek burned as both my henge and my fugue broke. Lee had evidently run off a couple minutes ago to make up for lost time, and Tenten looked vindicated.

"I TOLD you nothing good would come of it." she crowed. "You're already henging into them. Next, you'll be buying spandex of your own. You should be helping me to stop this insanity from spreading! What kind of Nara are you?"

"You show me someone who can get through to Lee that isn't Gai-sensei; I'll show you a miracle worker that could keep Jiraiya from being a pervert and Tsunade from drinking sake."

She giggled at that.


	3. Sugizai Shinrin

Author's note: I will admit that this has been a long time coming. I had this idea at about the same time I wrote the Tenten one-shot. But I ended up working on this on and off, mainly due to trying to nail down character interactions and writing my first fight scene. But, it is done, or at least as close as I feel I can get it to done, without it simply being stuck as a potential story forever, lost in the land of nitpicking.

In any case, this one shot told from the point of view of Sugizai Shinrin, of the Hidden Cedar Village, Tenten's first round opponent in the Grass Chunin exams. The little information we get on the village comes from "One Worth Betting On" (Shippuden episodes 286/287). Given I have no convenient twin to base Sugizai's appearance off of, if it helps she is 5'4" with moss green hair and electric blue eyes. Obligatory note here that I clearly don't own Naruto, nor Dreaming of Sunshine, and have no intention of profiting of either of them.

* * *

Anyone who thinks being the heir of a village leader is a boon, or a great privilege can take their favorite kunai and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. Because you know what being the daughter to the village leader means? It means long sleepless nights poring over the minutiae of events that no sane person would care about. It means having to juggle ten balls while learning how to juggle and doing everything else a growing ninja must. It means putting the weight of the village on your shoulders long before you are ready.

You see, there are only a few ways to survive as minor village in the current landscape-

You can be assimilated into a major village, something that has happened to too many to count and will only happen to Cedar over my dead body.

You can be like Rain, and have an S-rank ninja or two like Hanzo leading, or at the very least on staff. But those don't grow on trees, Konoha's ridiculous output notwithstanding. And good luck to you once they kick the bucket.

You can be like Grass, and have a key resource or bloodline other nations need. But there's at least a 50/50 shot someone will try to take you over to take it anyway. Or, in the case of Kumo, steal your children and either brainwash them to serve their village, or force them to have their own children that Kumo can then brainwash to serve their village.

You can be like the Land of Snow, and live in a place so inhospitable, no one _wants_ to live where you are. But then, you have to live there.

Or you can straddle the razor thin line between being minor enough no major nation wants to put in the effort to take you over, and major enough to take in enough missions to remain financially solvent and be too troublesome to take over. But this requires a leader with enough information and cunning to think 5 moves ahead of the major villages when it counts, much less the local threats as well.

This means that from the age the heir can walk, the pressure of the entire existence of the village is put on her shoulders, pushing them to read, to memorize, to learn, or die in the bitter awareness that there would be nobody to remember your village as it had been, or even _as if_ it had been. That is how arbitrary history actually is.

Because here, there are no Hyūga, whose eyes, among other things, can give them the oft-overlooked ability to read people's micro-expressions and heartbeat, and predict their actions like a psychic with an obsessive compulsive client. There are no Nara, whose Kami-given gifts mean they can play a few games of shogi as a pretense for strategy training, and stand in one place pinning people with shadows while their comrades do the hand-to-hand fighting and interrogation. There are no Yamanaka, able to rifle through a person's mind for what they need, and leave them none the wiser they were there. There never were Uchiha, who could stand sight unseen on the side of a battlefield, just watching, and have ten new techniques to bring back to their village.

There is only the information we can gather without being noticed, and the ninja force that a small village can muster. So we need force multipliers, which outside of messing with genetics, means we need to almost always apply our force at precisely the right place, at exactly the right time. And such decisions fall to my dad and will eventually fall to me.

No, I'm not stressed out _at all_. I loved having a vacuous blonde child regale me with her complaints that the fact that her name means pig will keep her from netting the guy that has to put out a disclaimer out that he and his comrades aren't homicidal maniacs. Not like she had noticed when I mentioned my father named me Sugizai during the pablum that counts as conversation between foreign ninja. Kami, it'd only be worse if one of the Hokage were pretentious enough to name their kid Konohamaru or something like that.

Let's be completely fair though. Based on that group's actions, I doubt it was even covered in their academy that the Hidden Cedar Village existed. Quick multiple choice question: You, a Leaf ninja, walk into a staging area full of ninja from various other villages at the start of the Chunin exams. Who do you greet?

A. Hidden Grass, the host of the Chunin exams and thus someone you at least want to be neutral with

B. Hidden Cedar, who you must minimally be nominal allies with, and need to remain allies with, as you occupy the same country as them without infightingC

C. Hidden Cloud, as an attempt to nurture and grow the fragile peace that has formed at the moment between the two villages

D. Hidden Valley, a land whose butt you saved and can earn political points with, keeping them from being too indebted Hidden Sand, who invaded you 6 months ago and sent the crux of that force to these exams

I could respect the other three choices. I might not like them, but I'd understand what they were doing. Instead, they went with option E) walk in with the village that tried to destroy you less than a year ago and pretend that your nominal allies don't exist.

Although, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised when its Senju freakin' Tsunade at the helm.

* * *

Oh yes, there is no love lost between Hidden Cedar and Tsunade. Not because of her gallivanting for the past decade. I couldn't care less about that. No, Tsunade- _hime_ earned our disdain shortly after the failed invasion of Konoha. You see, after the invasion, Konoha recalled the vast majority of its forces to ensure protection of the village and for re-organizational purposes. That's completely understandable, and with the loss of the Hokage, doubly so.

The unfortunate side effect of this is Kumo felt much more confident in conducting raids in the Land of Fire. We don't yet have a fully tally of their operations during that time period but, safe to say, if they feel confident enough to send the _Raikage himself_ , there was a heck of a lot more going on before and after. I mean, he has the reputation of a relative meat-head that cares a bit too much about his men, but surely he knew the consequences if he even got seen, much less caught.

Now as a smaller village, we have to be much more careful with how we utilize our shinobi. This isn't much more than accounting problem most of the time, matching ninja to missions that make us the most profit, as the Leaf has enough self interest in protecting the Land of Fire by themselves. With most everyone pulled back however, we have to protect high priority targets. This includes the village, of course, but it just as importantly includes Tanzaku-gai.

While Tanzaku-gai is well within the Land of Fire, it's closer to the border with the Land of Hot Water than it is to Konoha. Which means, if we need it, we need to keep it safe ourselves. And boy do we need it. Not only does it act as our reception area, allowing us to keep our hidden village actually hidden without lucking out on a geographical formation or using terraforming jutsu, but it's our first eyes and ears to the outside world. Tanzaku-gai is filled with more spies than Tsunade had creditors chasing her. So, it's about as valuable as the village itself.

All of this means that when the Raikage comes in as the _distraction_ for an infiltration mission, we don't exactly have the manpower to keep him from destroying everything on a whim and stop the infiltrator at the same time. Luckily, we were saved by the fact that ninja from powerful villages have a habit of failing to, as senseis the world over seem to love to spout, "looking underneath the underneath."

* * *

Pretend for a moment that your village has a secret ninjutsu that it wants to keep safe. If you are one of the 5 major villages, you lock it in a safe in your Kage's office and call it a day. Quite frankly, if someone has a force powerful or stealthy enough to get in through the normal security you can bring to bear, you have bigger issues than missing a single technique. For everyone else, there lies a bit of a problem. Unless you have the good fortune to have a seal master in your ranks, there isn't a whole heck of a lot you can do to stop a skilled and persistent enough ninja from getting in. Of course, we have good village security, both for my dad and for the villagers themselves But it's an economic reality that it's much too expensive to constantly pull back your best ninja for an attack that may well never come. We rotate as best we can, but it's a balancing act that seems to be most successful at leaving us just enough profit to continue running and just enough outward security to keep people from snooping whenever they like rather than leaving us feeling secure on either front. And just never writing the technique down isn't an option as it risks the technique getting forgotten (and is ineffective as a security measure if you have a neighbor who can read minds)

So the solution lies thusly. Have a hidden safe within your Kage's office. About as expensive as you can get without really breaking the bank. Put in an official looking scroll that describes basic ninjutsu that's vaguely related to the actual jutsu in obfuscating language. If possible, put an exploding trap that will take some time to disarm before it can be unraveled. Enough that the scroll will have to be taken back to their home village before it can be opened.

So let's say, in a completely hypothetical example, you have a lightning jutsu that greatly aids in stealth. Essentially, with good enough control, one can layer a thin sheet of lightning about a millimeter above the skin. The amount of precise control needed to keep this constant layer up makes it too weak to have significant battle applications, but that isn't what makes it useful. What it does is vaporize hair, skin, food particles, cloth fibers, basically anything that's an odorant before it leaves your body, as well as making harder for chakra sensors to sense you as your chakra is self contained. Something very useful if a neighbor you don't want spying on what you are doing has dogs and bugs that are really good at picking up scents and chakra.

You might instead write long winded descriptions about the nature of lighting, how its power seems to be derived from the harmony of sky and earth, or, if you're low on ideas, just visit a Fire Temple and copy the fluff those monks pass off on wisdom. This is all just to buy time anyway. Because you didn't hide the secret scroll in the only obvious place that everyone would hide their secret scrolls, the Kage tower. You put one there so they had something to find, but the actual scroll is under the floorboards of some random house that changes on a rotational basis. A system that is protected not only in the regular course of guard duties but by the fact that the major nations can't really afford the time to infiltrate so deep they could find out this system exists, much less where the scroll actually is. Not when there is a completely obvious secure safe ripe for the picking. Indeed, it's much harder to infiltrate a smaller, less populous village as opposed to a Kumo or Konoha, who have a constant flow of travelers and merchants that spies can use as cover.

When the infiltrating village gets away, send out a token resistance, say a mercenary force so you don't have to care who lives or dies, and they will be all the way back home before they realized that not only they've failed their mission but they've put themselves in a terrible position. Not only do you know they're coming, but you can inform your local hegemon, who can use this as fuel either for a war effort or to wring concessions.

All in all, everything worked as well as we could have hoped. We lost no Cedar ninja in the infiltration, and the Nokizaru-shu confirmed they killed one Kumo ninja and one would die the moment he used any jutsu. We quickly informed our spies to keep a lookout in Tanzaku-gai for Kumo ninja, and started gathering intelligence to figure out Kumo's likely response to their failure and to be passed on to Konoha, once they've got their governance figured out.

Enter Senju Tsunade.

* * *

Admittedly, when it was first reported she arrived, well, it was hardly unusual she would be in a town famous for gambling. Let's just say it wasn't the first time she'd visited. And if she was for some kami-forsaken reason helping the Kumo ninja, it would have been for a complete village take down during the mission. In between Tsunade and the Third Raikage? I can't afford to be so prideful as to not recognize that they could accomplish it relatively easily. So, she went as a footnote until an arm wrestling competition.

Not that we are so pedantic as to keep _that_ much detail of local happenings, but having an S-rank ninja in town is a rare occurrence. That ninja participating in an arm wrestling competition that features an explosion is even rarer. When the dust settled, what did we find? Tsunade agreeing to heal the Kumo ninja that was going to die from using jutsu! What the hell? Tsunade, who has refused to do any sort of healing for the masses of the fire nation if it didn't get her out of debt or into a bar, is healing enemy ninja, who told her they were there stealing from a village in the Land of Fire? What the actual freaking hell?!

And her justification was that we used the Nokizaru-shu to retaliate, and gosh darned it, that makes us so evil she _had_ to help. What, when a village is strong enough to have a hunter-nin division of its own it's okay, but if we have to outsource, it is an evil so great that it erases hatred fostered over the Third Shinobi War? Give me a flippin' break. Evidently, we did something to piss off Tsunade in the past decade or so.

The only thing that might be better is the follow up to all this. In perhaps the only greater coincidence than Tsunade and the Third Raikage being in Tanzaku-gai at the same time, we had a freaking family reunion with all of the Sannin! Tsunade spent a week griping with the not at all black and white moral dilemma of "Should I heal Orochimaru and let two innocent people die in order to temporarily revive two dead people?" (presuming that _Orochimaru_ of all people wasn't lying), and comes to the conclusion that she shouldn't because the dead people wouldn't like it. Not because it's, you know, _wrong_ or anything. (By the way, if you want to keep your problems secret, don't go from bar to bar drinking sake and wailing about them.)

There's a big throw-down, but even a jonin would have to be a moron to try to join a fight between all 3 of the Sannin. So, we were left to watch and wait as Tanzaku Castle was destroyed (great, not like that was the namesake of the town and the biggest attraction outside of gambling and the red light district or anything), Orochimaru fled, and Tsunade?

Tsunade became Hokage.

Well….that's…. _wonderful_.

As much as all of this sucked, a small consolation was the mental torture that the Raikage must have certainly been going through. The timing worked out that he'd have heard about Tsunade becoming Hokage shortly after realized the mission failed. After that, there is no way he is going to believe that Tsunade just _happened_ to be where he was conducting his raid. Tsunade becoming Hokage is just about the worst possible outcome for him. Because not only does the Hokage know Kumo's been raiding the Land of Fire, she knows he's personally contributed. Heck, he may think she coordinated with us to plant a false scroll for the Raikage to steal.

So you have a Hokage, a famous war hero in her own right, that knows that your nation and you personally have committed acts of war, has a casus belli worth dying for, and will have the support of the smaller nations if asked with the Hidden Cedar Village used as a rallying cry. From his point of view, a preemptive strike was perhaps his only option. He might have thought it inevitable that Konoha would strike if he didn't strike first. I mean, if he was looking to knock Konoha down, he would have done it when they were still rebuilding and lacked a Hokage, rather than lead espionage raids on nominal allies.

Yep, there'd be quite a bit a schadenfreude if we didn't have to worry about accidentally getting trampled in the process of their fighting.

Be that as it may, I wasn't here to get lost in bitter memories, but to become a Chunin. Dad held me back a bit longer than I liked, I will admit. Especially since I didn't go to the Chunin Exams held in the Land of Fire. However wise a move that ended up being in the end, there's no way we could have known what would happen, and if we had we would have alerted Konoha. We have nothing to gain from Sand, or Kami forbid Sound, moving into the area.

I can understand him doing so, though. If we were a stronger village, in a less precarious position, I might resent him. Take his caring for me as my dad as a sign he doesn't think I'm good enough to be a competent ninja. Heck, I might have run off and tried to join the Twelve Guardians, just because I know he knows how much I dislike Fire Temples. But disregarding all that, risking the future leader of the village just because she's impatient is ludicrously stupid. Better to wait until she's stronger. It ensures she survives, and sweeping the tournament, or even just close to it, sends a nice reminder that the Hidden Cedar Village exists and produces quality shinobi.

And thus I'm here with Hajime and Owari. Brothers named not because their parents are particularly deep, though they think they are, but because Kami has a sense of humor He knew that Hajiame couldn't begin to develop a lick of sense if he had a 10 year head start and an instruction manual, and that I will end Owari's child bearing dreams if he makes one more crack about my hair. He knows damn well that having metal wire in your hair to stop people from pulling it is a bad idea when you use lightning jutsu, so having a pixie cut is the next best option. He's looked like a cat that caught the canary ever since he saw that damn Hyūga boy.

Alright, alright. I'll admit that I'm being a bit unfair. I mean, it's not like Hajime is some stereotypical doofus that can't figure out the meaning of expiration dates on milk or anything like that. But he is a farmer's kid, through and through. Tall, thick frame, willing to get down and dirty with physical labor, and a passion for growing plants. Indeed, he wanted to apprentice under Shimeji, and Shimeji wanted him. But being the first born meant that, while not technically required, social pressure coerced him into becoming a ninja, a job whose schedule doesn't allow time for apprenticing under a gardener. So, that pervert Buna took that spot instead.

But for all that Hajime is physically strong, skilled in taijutsu, and, perhaps not surprisingly, has an affinity for earth chakra, he also has the intelligence of a farmer as well. I mean sure, he would fail to answer questions about kunai trajectory or the political ramifications of Kumo's defeat in the second shinobi war, but more telling is the fact that if you talked to him about the red light district, he'd ask if it was next to the green or blue one. Although, if nothing else, it's allowed him to retain some sort of innocence both as a ninja and as a frequent visitor to Tanzaku-gai.

Not that Owari would be skilled in unraveling political crises either. (I suppose since I've been drilled in that sort of thing since practically the womb, it was decided neither of my teammates should have skills in that sphere). But in many ways, he and Hajime are opposites as much as their namesakes. Owari is significantly smaller than Hajime, though that's more due to Hajime's ridiculous dimensions than anything else. Owari stands a couple inches taller than me, in fact. He has immersed himself into the night life of Tanzaku-gai to the point he knows it almost as well as a street rat and he absolutely refuses to realize when he should be serious and just _shut up_. There's probably some reason he tries to get on my nerves and be annoyingly cheerful, but he keeps going when even Hajime knows to back down. It's to the extent that I've made a point of overtly learning anatomy in order to realistically threaten in-the-field non-elective surgery

In fact, knowing his lack of survival instinct, I should have been performing a vasectomy last night before this morning's first round. Which means…..dammit, which means he was out on the town last night instead of staying back at base to annoy me.

* * *

"Owari, where the hell were you last night?" I hissed as we trudged toward the field where the first portion of the exam was being held. He turned his head toward me just a hair too slow. As well as he can handle sake, he must have drank quite a bit.

"Whaddya' mean?"

"I mean that Kami isn't gracious enough to bless me with a whole evening without commentary from the peanut gallery, and judging by your reaction, you drank enough to put the Senju herself under the table. And you did so _the_ _night before the Chunin Exams_."

"Ah, quit your whining." he replied blearily. "I was just securin' our pass to the second round."

"And how, exactly, does you getting drunk off your ass get any of us closer to being Chunin?"

He shushed me while throwing his finger to his lips, missing a quarter inch to the right and whispered "Just watch."

I shuffled around while listening to the Grass ninja describe the first round, doing my best to keep the sun in Owari's eyes until he moved into Hajime's towering shadow and rendered the whole effort moot.

"Oh great, a scavenger hunt.", I muttered. "The Grass ninja have probably had a map of this place for at least a week and Tsunade probably knows all the casino and bar owners personally."

Hajime replied, "Wow, she must get around."

Owari and I both turn to him slowly with wide eyes

He continued, "I mean, to know all those business owners personally, she would have had to travel across all the major nations before doing Hokage stuff. That's impressive."

I shook my head. "Please let this torture end quickly."

I heard a sickeningly honeyed voice, flavored with just a hint of mockery, slither it's way into my ear.

"Oh, if only you had a teammate who found Yoppari-san, bought him his favorite sake, and drank him under the table to find out about this round ahead of time. If only Yoppari-san had revealed that along with the scavenger hunt, we would need a token just like this one to get to the next round. If only fate were so kind to give you a teammate who spent the remaining 10 hours canvassing the entire town so that he knows it like the back of his hand."

I glared kunai at him. "I hate you. I hate you with all of my hate. I hate you with the fury of a thousand bijuu. You do not get to go get plastered and pretend it was a part of some master plan. When this is over, go jump off a cliff. Onto some spikes…..Poisoned spikes."

He smirked, "Only because I know my blue-eyed forest pixie-chan will fly over and catch me."

Luckily, my roar of anger was covered by the rush of genin toward the scavenger hunt.

* * *

Much as I loathe to admit it, the first round was a cakewalk. Especially with all the teams fighting in the streets creating wonderful distractions. I mean yes, the rules specifically allowed it, but that doesn't mean it is in any way a wise thing to do. Best case scenario you don't waste too much time or hit civilians but you've still revealed some small of your hand long before the fighting tournament begins. Worst case, you fail out and your Kage is pissed off at you because civilians won't do business with your village after you hurt them. Not exactly an even trade-off.

With Yoppari-san's reliably loose lips, we knew that the next round would be based on urban ambushes looking for a poker hand and could plan accordingly. Owari was close to being as skilled with water justu as I was with lightning jutsu, to the point that a small puddle, or a splash of water becomes debilitating paralysis. And Haijame? He was strong enough and stubborn enough to bench press a small house given the chance. Adding earth armor and earth limbs was just patently unfair

When they announced all teams must be four ninja a piece for the second round, I did the math and realized that, among others, the Leaf ninja were one genin over. But before I could act on it, a girl who, judging by the ridiculous amount of clan members populating the rest of the teams, and having an "Ino" and a "Cho" as teammates herself, was probably a Nara, joined...the Sand team. Yes, cultivate an alliance with the people who tried to kill you. Who cares about a village that, relatively speaking, is your next door neighbor?

I saw Owari trying to get a Nadeshiko kunoichi making cow eyes at Hajime to come over. But I made sure to nip that in the bud with a glare. I wasn't ready to deal with either Owari's flirting or the girl trying to be defeated by Hajime in order to take him home.

We eventually ended up with a Kakusareta Fushigi from the Hidden Key Village, which put me nicely on edge. The last thing we need is to worry about espionage from a "teammate" during the middle of the exam. However, his expertise did mean he had quite a bit of experience in setting up ambushes. I suppose the village should thank its lucky stars that Owari was aware enough to keep his trap shut and Haijame isn't a font of information to begin with.

With around 200 shinobi still left, we hardly had a dearth of targets and were able to steal our 5 cards relatively easily, along with a few extra. I'm just glad we didn't have green, because there is no way a Hyūga would sit well with being teammates with someone so incompetent as to tell everyone what their card is without having a damn good reason for it. The stick that they have up their collective butts would get in the way, if nothing else.

By the end of the round, Fushigi saw Owari's and my elemental affinities and Hajime's strength during the ambushes but the former would have come out anyway and Hajime's specialty is evident just by looking at him. It's amazing how many supposed ninja didn't find it odd that there were puddles when it hadn't rained since everyone had arrived. Did they assume there were that many drunk civilians that relieved themselves in the street? In any case, I must admit that we have had probably one of the easiest paths up to this point.

When we got back to the field, I saw card tables being set up, each felt a different color. Well, Yoppari-san proved himself to be a reliable source of information if nothing else. The issue is that, as I know as much about poker as Hajime knows about calculus, my future as a kunoichi lies in the hands in the hands of Owari. Fan-freakin'-tastic.

I mean, yes we do have Fushigi and his espionage skills on our team, and he needs to work with us if he wants to advance, but I have no reason to believe that is his goal. Hidden Key shinobi aren't known for the sort of combat skills that the Chunin Exams are meant to show off. Really, it makes the most sense for them to send genin to gather information, and then manage to fail out before the final tournament. Internal promotion is no shame, and any ninja who cares how someone is promoted over the fact that they were is going to be a dead one soon enough. That he could take an enemy team out in the process by misleading us is simply the cherry on top.

Meaning the only option I can trust is Owari playing a few good rounds of poker.

On the bright side, taking out Sabaku no Gaara without fighting him is an opportunity that must be taken whenever possible. As long as he doesn't have an amazing hand from the cards they gath…..

Damnit, he just went all in.

Well, it's clear that he got a good hand from scavenging and only a moron would call him on thi...Oh look, team moron right on schedule, thinking someone as battle hungry as Sabaku no Gaara is supposed to be would risk a chance for sanctioned fighting on a card game. Both squads left, and there are three remaining.

I did my best not to sweat through my headband while all this is happening, as perhaps the only thing worse than my destiny not being in my hands is that I don't really know enough to know how we are doing. Owari won one chip in the next round on what I think is an ace high? I don't think that's a very strong hand, but if we lose one, we just would make Fushigi miss out. And like I said, I doubt he would care.

But then, Owari stopped betting. I mean, we may be getting bad hands, but there is a clock ticking. He does realize that all the spots will be taken before every table is done, right? Come on Owari, that's two rounds you've folded. Now three, and the Nadeshiko group won a chip, now four...Okay good, you're betting, just push them all-

" _ **STOP!**_ "

I jumped as the proctor's voice rang through the field.

"Thank you everyone for participating, but all 32 chips for the final round have been won. Teams with less than four chips, decide who is moving on and report to the proctor to the right of me. Tomorrow, we will begin the tournament. It will last for the next five days, with one round on each day. The brackets will be posted tomorrow morning. That is all, and the best of luck to you all."

* * *

Fushigi slinked off, much as I suspected, but that still left us with the issue of one chip for three people. I took a deep breath, preparing to tell Owari to take it. He had been the one to get us through the first round. He acquired the information that helped us through the second round, and even won that very chip himse-

"Take it Sugizai."

"What?" I replied, nonplussed.

"Take the chip and report to the proctor."

"But you won this chip. Heck, you're the reason we made this far in the first place."

"And we both know I wouldn't have been near as successful in doing so if you haven't been on my ass since day one, pushing me to stop screwing around and be serious, much as I may have hated it.

Let's be real here Sugizai. Ignore the needs of the village, the political implications of your dad's daughter not making it to the third round. Just focus on you. You, Sugizai Shinrin, are one badass kunoichi and will be a badass Cedar Village Kage, no matter how much you stress over that being too tough an obstacle. Hajime and I are decent ninja, but you girl, are the real deal and we have the bruises and battle scars to prove it. So, you know what you are going to do?

You're going to take this chip, report back to the proctor, and you are going to come back to camp. You are then going to run through your katas with those axes of yours and get a good night's sleep. You know why? Because tomorrow, you are going to make sure no one will forget Sugizai Shinrin or the Hidden Cedar Village."

I stood there dumbfounded as Hajime gave me a confident nod and left with his brother. It...it feels good to get a reminder that that they're not just squad-mates, but _comrades_ and all that entailed.

* * *

I will admit that being the my father's daughter does lend me some advantages. One of which is quality equipment. For ninja tools outside of kunai, I use a staff that breaks down into two collapsible, double-bitted hand axes. Not only that, but it's alloyed with chakra conducive metal. So, my Lightning Release: Lighting Strike is more powerful when I use my axes to form and fire it and even if my axes were somehow too dull to cut through a defense, a splash of lightning chakra will clear the way.

I'm really glad I didn't have to break them out in front of Fushigi.

The axes are built around utilizing speed in melee combat, which suits me down to the ground. And together, they don't weigh enough as a staff to really slow me down. I will be the first to admit that these beauties have been much more useful for me thus far than that ninjutsu Kumo tried to steal.

I ran through my katas, burning through my nervous energy and eventually building a thick sheen of sweat. Because as much as Owari might screw around, when he gets serious, it usually pays to listen. I'm here to kick butt and become a chunin. Moaning about the fact that our promotions came down to a card game as opposed to something actually congruent with missions won't change anything. All I can do is win now, and push Hajime and Owari as they prepare for the next round of exams.

All in all, I was tired enough by the end that despite everything, it would be one of the best nights of sleep I'd had for a while.

As I woke up the next morning, I saw the note Dad left for me beside my bed. He had spent a good portion of the night politicking with business owners and the other Kage, and I'm sure he was hard at work this morning continuing the same. Sure, I would have liked to have seen him, but we had talked about this before we ever left for Grass.

The Chunin Exams were the best opportunity of the year to grow business for the village, especially when we had ninja competing. Calling it a night half an hour early during the next few days to give me yet another pep talk could cost the village dearly for months, potentially even years down the line. It wasn't as if we didn't see each other for much of the day when we were both in the village and the fact that I was even here was a vote of confidence from him.

He had his own job to do, his own labyrinthine path to follow. I had a much more straightforward one- kick enough ass to back up his words and promises.

* * *

Walking into the communal kitchen, I saw Hajime carrying a tray overflowing with a feast fit for an Akimichi that the boys had evidently filched from the dining hall. And lying on the table next to him was a report written in Owari's infuriatingly neat scrawl. But before I could pick it up, Haijme set down the tray and held up his hand in front of me.

"Owari said that report is of your first round opponent and a betting packet about other foes. But the tournament begins in two and a half hours. We will be using our 'Ten bites per page' rule. Remember, the brightest flower and thickest stem fall to the slightest breeze if the roots are not well fed."

I felt a small smile appear at the serious stare he gave me as I nodded and set down. He apparently trusted me to police myself for now as went over to a couch and…

And…

And tucked in Owari, who clearly had been too exhausted to do anything other than crash on the couch. Who not only had not only spent last night gathering any bit of information he could, but had already spent the last two nights doing the exactly the same thing.

I closed my eyes and crushed the guilt that was building at the way I had treated him the last couple days, doing my best to convince myself that I could only feel guilty if I didn't use the information he worked so hard to get. So, I dove into it.

Tenten _No given last name; probable she is an orphan, given her age probably from Kyūbi attack; possible psychological warfare opportunity but for the most part only significant in that she isn't a member of a clan and therefore not a heir to certain jutsu or affinities._

Age: 14

Height: 5' 1"

Weight: 93lbs _Slightly smaller and younger than you; chakra muddies the waters but no statistically significant physical characteristics. N_ _othing stands out about her mission history. Not bad, but nothing to strike fear into others. The betting book is basically useless after this except for one tidbit that will tie into the information I gathered commiserating with my fellow ninja during the night._

 _You see-_

"Sugizai!"

I quickly looked up at Hajime's booming voice.

"Remember, ten bites per page. Eat, or I will take those papers and bury them where you can't reach them."

I huffed good-naturedly, "Yes Kami-sama, may our lives be forever under your benevolent gaze."

I then quickly wolfed down some of the food because this would not be the first time he followed through on a threat. My ability to easily shock him did not, in my eyes, make up for how terrible I was at retrieving something he hid in the earth.

 _You see that her sensei is Maito Gai, which may lead you to think her strength is taijutsu, and she certainly will be no slouch in that area. But her teammates are Rock Lee and Neji Hyūga. You may remember Rock Lee as the boy in the green spandex who advertised his green card to every ninja competing with him. And according to every ninja that attacked that team and watched them fight, those two are probably the best taijutsu users in this whole damn tournament._

 _Neji Hyūga appears to be a prodigy with the Jūken and Rock Lee seems to be just as good a fighter through sheer force of will. They spent yesterday afternoon letting ambushes break upon the duo while the Yamanaka and Tenten waited in the shadows to trap them and attack with long range weaponry. Victims reported an uncanny accuracy with thrown kunai from Tenten and didn't detect any jutsu or physical aids such as wires used. Some of them claimed she had perfect aim. Given what the Hyūga eyes can see, there may be some other system they use, but the safest option is to observe during your fight but presume her accuracy to be legit until proven otherwise._

 _Now eat some more off your tray before Hajime berates you AGAIN. I'd hate for our pixie to have to run around the village, electric-blue eyes darting wildly looking for her papers._

Trying to burn a hole through the paper with my eyes, I made sure to eat loudly so Hajime would have no reason to come over here.

 _Sugizai, you know your abilities better than anyone. Close range fighting is your strength and while she will be a tough foe in that department, considering the make-up of her team, letting her stay in long range is not the winning move. Given how much she was seen chasing down her green clad teammate during the second round, a fight of stamina should probably be avoided too, especially if she can just maneuver herself to keep her distance. Witnesses did not report her using any defensive earth jutsu yesterday which, again considering what the Hyūga eyes can see and see through, should rule out that affinity as she would have used it if she had it. It is too useful not to. Remember we can learn not just from what our opponents do, but what they do not._

 _We may not know everything she can do, but we do know you definitely have some surprises for her. I will leave the nitty-gritty detailed planning of your fight to you. Just please wake me about 40 minutes before the match so I have time to clean up and calm you down from the nervous spiral you will have inevitably set yourself in before we head out._

 _Faithfully yours,_

 _Owari_

I slowly tilted my head back and started to run through potential strategies. I was under a lot of pressure, yes, but I could feel that their bedrock support would keep my calm enough to get the job done.

* * *

Unfortunately, my fight was simultaneously later in the day, giving me a chance to give my opponent accidental intelligence, and before the fight that I needed to watch. I trusted Owari to get good intel on the other matches, both during and after the fights, but I wouldn't be able to watch my future opponent until I had already expended energy on my match. And if Owari was interpreting the bookies correctly my likely opponent will be one of the dark horses of this tournament.

There was some good news as they announced the rules of the tournament at least. Given the way everything had been set up, this would probably be the only day that the field and time limit would be so small. So any theoretical stamina advantage would be pretty much useless against any ninja worth their salt and while it was still a bit big for my taste, I'd take the ring over the whole field any day.

All in all the only way this could be a better day to fight my opponent would be if there was a literal lightning storm going on.

The matches were entertaining enough to get my mind busy, if sometimes a bit….stereotypical. I'm sure Owari at least considered placing a bet that the Nara wouldn't make more of an effort than was absolutely required, except maybe to shit talk. Yamanakas have long used genjutsu considering how well it gels with both their mind jutsu and their traditional trio of Ino-Shika-Cho. The summons was an interesting wrinkle though. A puppet user beating Hyūga would have required incompetence from the latter and the Rock Lee proved his opponent was much too young to be entered by doing what for him was basically an aerobic exercise routine for 30 minutes until his opponent collapsed.

But eventually I couldn't hide behind my sarcastic musings any longer and walked out to the ring. The few glances I could get without capturing Tenten's attention did not reveal anything Owari didn't let me know. The only curious event was the picnic that was set up within their little group, but it's not like it's an earth shattering surprise that someone in a group of ninja had some storage seals. Advertising it so openly probably means no one is specializing in seals, and we would have heard word of a potential seal master spreading pretty quickly anyway. On the other end, while my staff was unavoidably obvious, I'm pretty sure she didn't get anything else from me.

As we got set, I could see she was confident, but wary, a kunai held in her fingerless gloves. I drew out my staff and tensed the muscles in my legs as subtly as I could, getting ready to close the distance between us when the proctor start the match in 3….2….1…

"BEGIN!"

As soon as I leaped toward her, she hurriedly threw her kunai at me and covered her eyes while jumping away. I'm a bit disappointed honestly. Surely she's better than this? I brought up staff to-

Oh crap, there's a tag wrapped around the hilt of the kunai.

Holy crap, she must be crazy playing with explosives in this close proximity! Okay, can't be based on contact, too risky to put it on the hilt, must be either timed, or manual set. I angled my staff to swat the tag up in the air dug my feet into the ground to jump away from it as fast as I could.

As an explosion of light and sound filled the sky, I instinctively dodged to left after landing and felt a pair of kunai pass inches by me. Okay, settle down, there was no heat in that blast. She just backed you up to gain distance. Not a great situation, but better than your opponent being certifiably insane. Given that she has two teammates who specialize in taijutsu and you are holding a staff, it's not exactly a shock that your opening move was to charge. Just need to run through defensive katas until there is an opening you can exploit.

* * *

I have to give her credit, her reputation as a marksman is well earned. I've spent the last 5 minutes just deflecting kunai, ninety percent of which would have disabled me in some form or fashion. There are a few misses here or there, but she's been using the small arena to _**OhcrapIneedtoblockthatkunai**_ box me in and keep me from pursing her. It's as if she knows where I'm going to be as long as she intends to slice me up when I get there. I haven't seen anything yet to actually beat me, but if she does this for the whole half hour there's no way I'm moving to the next round, much less being promoted.

Honestly though, I'm not _ **twoatmystomachonetomyfarleft**_ mad that I'm losing _._ It's that this fight is _**Shitshosearegonnacutmythighs**_ frustrating. Sure, maybe she's unhappy that I've blocked or _ **Toomanydiveleft**_ dodged everything she's thrown thus far, but I _ **firstkatatoblockthattrio**_ can't _**katathreefromtheleft**_ do _**fallintosplitsleadintokatafivetogetbackup**_ ANYTHING! Honestly she has to be on her last kunai soon, she can't have held many more on her person without being crushed from the combined weight.

As if reading my mind, she threw out a scroll that unfurled itself into an arc above her facing me. I don't know much about seals, but I can recognize a standard Konoha storage seal. Craptacular.

Unable to dodge while still getting up from the splits, I instead moved into a bullshit maneuver that I never should have known. The sort of ridiculous choreography that changes a ninja's opinion of an action movie from being bored to tears to rolling their eyes at how unrealistic and useless it is. But there once was a jonin named Teijo who had the unenviable task of teaching a stubborn little girl the ways of the staff. And while his flashy show convinced me to try the staff out, it also meant my heart was set upon learning that routine the moment I could. He made me swear to never pull it out in an actual battle, but I don't have any other option. My deepest apologies, Teijo-sensei. I hope you don't see this.

My hands started spinning my staff faster and faster until it was a mobile shield capable of blocking most of the kunai _**Holycrapwasthatagiantflailthatflewpast**_ being sent. Even combined with as much dodging as I could muster I was just barely staying untouched.

You know what? Screw this.

I stopped spinning my staff and instead charged right at her. I took a few cuts on my side and arms for my trouble, but it was worth it to see the surprise on her face as she was watching the carnage. I'm guessing most that got out of that used earth jutsu to shield or just dodged out of the way. As I watched her whip out a kunai to block the edge of my staff, I could finally say this fight was on my terms.

She certainly wasn't bad up close, and kunai are just as sharp in hand as they are thrown but I had reach on her. As long as we stayed in hand to hand combat she had about as much chance of attacking me as I did attacking her when she got her range. Just stay patient and consistent until you get the chance to strike. Swing after swing, she dodged but she gave up a little space every time. I slowly steered her to the edge of the ring, giving her less space than she had to give me while keeping her range. Even with a kunai in each hand to block, she could not slow the inexorable pace I had set.

Finally she decided she couldn't retreat anymore, and leaped forward to slice across my chest. Probably to create an opening for her other kunai. I couldn't keep back a small grin when I let my staff split into axes and watched her fall towards the ground as the blunt side of my left axe slammed into her face.

But before I could fully bring down the right to pin her down she rolled away and _**shitanothertag**_ all I could do was cover my eyes and dodge as she managed to get her distance again.

Goddammit.

It seems though that she may have finally run out of kunai as she pulled out a Kusarigama. On the one hand, it's a weapon that is quite frankly redundant considering her skill with throwing weapons and an end to the pincushion round is welcome. On the other hand, she pulled out a Kusarigama. In Kusa. If that isn't a blatant play to the judges I don't know what is. And given that, she wouldn't pull it out unless she's good with it. Heck, that she wears fingerless gloves shows she's experienced with weapons.

Her fingerless gloves...that's it! Okay, she's content to watch and wait for the moment so let's think this out. Her intent with the kusarigama was to tie up my axes and disarm me. Sure we can fight kunai to kunai, but she'll have much more experience with that. But those gloves mean she has never fought someone with that kusarigama that uses lightning jutsu. So, all I need to do is bait her into doing what she wants to do anyway and can knock her out in one strike.

Okay girlie, let's go. I'll step a bit closer. That's right, start swinging the ball around your head. You want to maneuver a bit that fine. Come on, come on, you want this over with as much as I do. Okay, I'll just mime like about to throw one and-there!

I squeezed my now wrapped-in-chain axes, reached deep inside and grabbed as much chakra as I could put into this one technique.

"Lighting Style: Electric Strike!"

But as I felt the current travel down my axes and through the chain to her, a glint caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. A couple kunai flew past me and suddenly ninja wire was wrapped my entire body trapping me in my stance.

What?!

How could she have possibly done this? She hasn't used wire at all! But as she slowly rose up, recovering from shock I had given her, I saw it. A flash of light in between the fingers of the hand holding the scythe of the kusarigama. That was tied to….the kunai laying on the ground that had missed earlier. Kunai that were hammered into the ground by the ones that she just threw. No freaking way. She did NOT plan all this out, This is ridiculous. Alright, I'm still holding an axe; I can still send another shock and put her down.

But before I could gather the chakra, she yanked her other hand back, and the flail lying behind me flew up and crashed into the back of my ahead. As I lost consciousness, all I could think was "Perfect aim, indeed".


End file.
